


Bruises

by Adi (Littlelionman15)



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Pre-Avengers (2012), Pre-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Pre-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Pre-Captain America: The First Avenger, Pre-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 13:02:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15143633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Littlelionman15/pseuds/Adi
Summary: A young Steve Rogers comes home with a bruise under his eye, and his mother, Sarah, comforts him.





	Bruises

**Author's Note:**

> soft steeb! i almost teared up reading this. i love this dork too much, i swear.

“Oh, Steven.” the worried young mother exhaled, soaking the wet cloth in cold water. In front of her, on the edge of her and her husband’s bed, sat a young boy with his short, beautiful blonde hair combed to his left, and his clover-green eyes sad.              “I’m sorry, mom.” She held the wet and now cold cloth in her hand, squeezing the rest of the ice-cold water back into the small, metal bucket. _Might get one of these to hang in here permanently_ , Sarah Rogers thought. To be honest, that wasn’t exactly a bad idea – it was the third time this week that her seven-year old son comes home with a dark bruise under his eye. “You know that you’re smaller than they are.” she scolded him, cupping his cheek with the wet cloth in her hand. “Don’t always have to be the hero, Steven.” She looked at him with her beautiful and tired blue eyes, which were now filled out with tears. His lower lip began trembling, and soon, young Steven’s eyes teared up as well. It’s not like he liked getting beaten up daily in the alley two streets away from their Brooklyn home. He didn’t. But it was what his father had taught him: always to stick up for the ones who can’t protect themselves. “Don’t be mad at me, mom.” he told her, his rosy cheeks wet from the tears. “I was only doing what dad taught me.” Sarah looked at her son. He was the spitting image of her late husband, Joseph – not only in looks, but in the silly need to always help the weaker and troubled ones and end up getting in trouble himself. He was the only reminder left after Joseph’s death; the only reminder left of him. Their apartment wasn’t filled with memories of their happy lives, as they hoped it’d be once they left their families in Ireland and came to the States, seeking a better life for their kid – their Steven. The economic crisis left a good effect on them, too: Joseph had to work two jobs, one as a mechanic and the other as a shoe cleaner, and Sarah had to take double shifts as a low-paid nurse at the hospital nearby. When that wasn’t enough, Joseph decided that he would enlist – so that, in case of his death, his family gets at least some money to ensure a living. It wasn’t even two full weeks later when she got a knock at the door from the two unfamiliar soldiers. Now, their formerly small apartment had suddenly become big – all of a sudden, there were never going to be the memories she and Joseph would make to fulfill the empty picture frames on the walls. That would remain empty forever now. Joseph’s bravery led him into his death. And now, months after she had cried herself to sleep every night after Steven would have fallen asleep, she looked at her brave son who was stubbornly following his father’s footsteps. “My dear Steven.” she said, with softness in her smile and light in her eyes. She stroked his hair with her long, elegant fingers. “Come here.” she sat on the bed, tapping her hand gently on her knee. Steven curled up in her lap, resting his head on her thighs, curled up like a fetus. The late sun was shining on through the cheap, yellow curtains she had bought last month, onto her floral dress and onto Steven’s bruised, thin legs. He was thin, no flesh on his bones – only pure will and undying need to help those who can’t help themselves was in this boy’s body. He had a big heart. Perhaps too big for the hard times that had come.          “Remember these words I’ll now tell you, okay?”                                                                  He nodded. “Compromise where you can. Where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye, and say „No, you move.“ Because no matter how big of a hero you will become one day, I need you to be alive, and not beaten up in a dark alley. Okay? “                                                Steven nodded. “I love you, mommy.”              A faint smile brightened up Sarah’s face. “I love you too, my brave little slugger.”

 

This was the memory Steve Rogers thought of in the moment he had found out that Zemo had destroyed the last photograph he had of his mother among his other belongings when he planted a bomb in the Avengers facility. It was all gone now. Sarah Rogers would from now on only live in his memories, and in the moment he realized that, his heart broke.


End file.
